U.S. health officials are warning that influenza season may be reaching peak levels earlier than usual this year, with the deadly virus already considered widespread across most of the country and blamed for 27 deaths in California.

The virus is currently designated as widespread in 46 states and having regional activity in the remaining four states Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire and New Jersey. Local influenza activity has also been reported in Washington, D.C., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .

Four times as many states are reporting the flu as widespread compared to this time last year, CBS News reports .

What were seeing this year [is] the influenza season started earlier and seems to be peaking right about now, Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the CDCs Influenza Division, told Good Morning America . Thats about a month earlier than it normally would be peaking, he said, so lots of cases [are] happening, in lots of states, all at the same time.

Health officials have warned that H3N2, the most common strain of the virus theyve seen, is particularly vicious.

This is a bad bug, Jernigan told CBS News . In years when there is H3N2, we do see that there are more deaths.